British MPs will have an emergency debate tomorrow on whether to hold a public inquiry into the phone hacking scandal following claims a private investigator working for the News of the World hacked into murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler’s phone after she went missing.
Commons speaker John Bercow said the matter should be debated and MPs, mainly on the Labour benches, signalled their agreement.
The call for a debate came from Labour’s Chris Bryant, who accused the News of the World of “playing God with a family’s emotions” in Milly’s case.
He called for a public inquiry, alleging the Metropolitan Police had failed to fully investigate claims of phone hacking.
Milly’s parents are suing the News of the World over claims that her phone was hacked after she went missing in 2002.
Bob and Sally Dowler said they had been given “false hope” that their daughter could still be alive after voicemail messages on the phone were deleted in the days after she vanished.
Scotland Yard officers contacted Mr and Mrs Dowler about the hacking allegations in April, a month before Levi Bellfield went on trial for her murder.
Mr Bryant (Rhondda), who is taking legal action over allegations his own phone was hacked, used a technical parliamentary procedure to apply for the emergency debate.
He said: “There cannot be a single person in the land who is not sickened by the news that a private investigator working for the News of the World hacked the mobile phone of the missing teenager Milly Dowler and deleted some of her messages, thereby leading the family to believe that she might still be alive.
“That’s not just a paper out of control, that’s not just a paper believing it’s above the law, it’s a national newspaper playing god with a family’s emotions.
“Those involved, those whose negligence allowed it to happen and those who covered it up should be truly ashamed.
“And the paper cannot pretend that this comes as a massive surprise to them - they actually ran a story directly referring to one of the messages in the News of the World.”
The speaker said he was “satisfied that the matter is proper to be debated”.
Under the standing order 24 procedure, MPs had to indicate that Mr Bryant had their permission by standing - with 40 required to do so in order for the debate to be granted.
The Labour benches were packed with MPs supporting the call and a small number of Tories and Liberal Democrats also got to their feet.
Mr Bercow signalled that the debate would take place tomorrow afternoon and would last for up to three hours.
Earlier in the Commons deputy prime minister Nick Clegg said the alleged hacking of Milly’s phone was “grotesque” and “beneath contempt”.
He told deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman: “I’m sure we both speak on behalf of the whole house and the rest of the country in saying that if these allegations are true, this behaviour is simply beneath contempt.
“I mean, to hack into the phone of a missing child is grotesque and the suggestion that that might have given false hope to Milly’s parents that she might have been alive only makes it all the more heart-rending.”
The Liberal Democrat leader said the police investigation should pursue the evidence “ruthlessly, wherever it leads”.
Ms Harman urged the government to back the calls for a public inquiry.
Mr Clegg replied: “I think the absolute priority now is to get to the bottom of actually what happened and what is the truth.
“And that requires, above and beyond everything else, a police investigation which pursues the evidence, pursues it ruthlessly wherever it leads.”
Mr Clegg said: “If there are wider issues which need to be looked at once the police investigation is complete, of course we can return to that.
“But I’m sure you will agree with me that the key thing is — and this is what Milly Dowler’s family wants to know — who did what when, who knew what they were doing, and who will be held to account.
“We will only be able to get to the bottom of that when the police ruthlessly pursue the evidence wherever it leads.”
PA